After getting a bit too much sun in the Valley of the Kings Sven missed out on the trip to the amazing temple at Karnak.
Like the other temples in Egypt Karnak is on a massive scale. It's huge pylons and towering obelisks never fail to impress. Today you can only get a rough idea of the amazing work that went into building these temples, and the splendour they would have had when they were in use.
Many different Pharaohs left their mark on the temple at Karnak. Some of the major builders from Ancient Egypt had work carried out here including Ramesses II and Amenhotep III.
One Pharaoh who helped restore the temple after Akhenaten had closed it down was Tutankhamun. The only one of his monuments surviving at Karnak is this small sphinx in the first court of the temple.
The main temple at Karnak is dedicated to the three gods of the 'Theban Triad'. These are Amun, his wife Mut and their son Khonsu.
One of the nicest buildings at Karnak is not dedicated to any of these three gods though, Instead it was built for the creator god Ptah and his consort Hathor who Sven met at Denderah. This little temple is in really good condition and lets you see what the place would have looked like when it was in use.
One thing about this temple is that there are still statues in the sacred shrines where originally the cult statues of the gods would have been. The headless one in the middle room is of Ptah but in the room where a statue of Hathor should be stands this impressive black statue of Sekhmet. It is very similar to the ones Sven saw at Medinet Habu.
